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When Rebuilding, Beware of What Is Discarded

The redoubtable legends reunited in New York at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, making the news media rounds, repeating the old war stories they can by now recite in their sleep and soaking in well-earned ceremonial love.

“It’s been a great time,” Cazzie Russell said. “But we all have to go back to reality.”

Russell, the pastor of a 287-member nondenominational church in Savannah, Ga., may have wanted to say a prayer for the Knicks by the end of a night that was buoyed by nostalgia but ended with booing. But he and most of the other 1970 championship honorees had vacated their celebrity row seats by the last two minutes of Milwaukee’s 83-67 victory, the notable exception being Dick Barnett.

Fall back, baby. The rest of the Knicks’ home season may well be as ugly as the basketball sin of the newly acquired journeyman, Eddie House, who fired up more shots (16) against the Bucks than the combined total (14) of the supposed young guns, Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari. Opportunity for growth is a precious thing to waste.

Contemporary Knicks fans may not realize how long it took (years) to build and nurture the beloved team that was captained by Willis Reed, in sharp contrast to what management has done in recent years, and will attempt to do again next summer: manufacture a winner in the microwave.

Lurching from one so-called era to another, Stephon Marbury to Eddy Curry to the current and most ephemeral of all, Tracy McGrady, the Knicks have too often burned the popcorn and, worse, traded off or wasted their draft picks. Having McGrady and House obscure the younger players may ultimately be a questionable sales pitch to LeBron James and the rest of the much-hyped 2010 free-agent class.

By game’s end Monday night, even David Lee — the Knicks’ best player the last two years, their first All-Star in nine years and the eternal believer that the tunnel they’ve been digging through for a decade doesn’t lead to nowhere — seemed as fatigued as the 72-hour notion that McGrady could instantly be re-established as one of the N.B.A.’s elite.

By Lee’s standards, he had a miserable night in front of the legends, especially Reed, who on occasion has playfully reminded Lee of his responsibility to carry on the tradition of left-handed Knicks post players that Reed, of course, established. Foul trouble and the Bucks’ 7-foot center, Andrew Bogut, had much to do with Lee’s performance, but his avoidance of reporters afterward spoke to another possible level of frustration.

Photo

David Lee, top , has endured losing seasons at the start of his career with the Knicks, as did Willis Reed, above.Credit
Top, Nick Laham/Getty Images; Wen Roberts/NBAE, via Getty Images

While McGrady was at the center of a Jordanesque news media scrum, the absence of a nameplate above Lee’s dressing stall was a reminder that his tenure with the Knicks may soon end. In a telephone interview from Boston, where the Knicks lost to the Celtics, 110-106, Tuesday night, Lee explained that he needed treatment after Monday night’s game, but he admitted how much he wanted to play well and win with the ultimate Knicks winners in the house.

“You know, it was disappointing to play that way, especially on legends night,” said Lee, the only current player who came out at halftime to watch Reed walk stiff-legged from the tunnel, just as he did before Game 7 of the 1970 finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Lee’s desire to persevere in New York is no secret. But there is also great fan anticipation now that Donnie Walsh, the Knicks’ president of basketball operations, has cleared enough salary-cap space to sign two stars this summer, which would likely mean having to disavow Lee, who will also be a free agent.

Warning that throwing money at the biggest names doesn’t necessarily beget harmony was Bill Bradley, who said: “There’s always the illusion that one more player actually will make it all work.” On the subject of adding not just one player, but two, Reed said that while he understands Walsh’s approach in the era of free agency, he is hoping that Lee will remain.

“I enjoy watching him play because he’s what I call a 100 percenter,” Reed said. “David may not be having a good night but it won’t be because he’s not putting out and those are the guys the fans can relate to, the guys that bring teams together.”

Reed believes that an important part of the 1970 team’s legacy and special relationship with its fans was the developmental process from the time he was drafted in 1964. Like Lee, Reed endured losing seasons and had position issues. Like Reed, a smallish center at 6-9, Lee has developed his jump shot to the point where he creates offensive matchup problems for bigger players.

Unlike Reed, Lee will never be ideally suited to be a career center at the defensive end, where his lack of shot-blocking is a liability. But intangibles do matter, as in the case of Bradley, who started over Russell, the much flashier and more explosive player.

“The superstars are very important — everybody wants to see the LeBrons and Kobes,” said Lee, who had 28 points and 15 rebounds against the Celtics. “But from the video I’ve seen and what I know, the ’70 team is remembered the way they are 40 years later because of how balanced and together they were.”

Of the prime front-court free agents who might soon be available, Chris Bosh is a superior athlete and scorer but no more a center than Lee is, while Amar’e Stoudemire is no better a defender than Lee and not as good a rebounder. Walsh will spend his summer dreaming of glory but dribbling around land mines. Before he decides on a painful divorce, he may want to watch some 1970 Knicks video and be sure he can’t imagine Lee in the picture.

A version of this news analysis appears in print on February 24, 2010, on page B10 of the New York edition with the headline: When Rebuilding, Beware of What Is Discarded. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe